Rubik's Cube
by Rescue45
Summary: I wrote this in response to a challenge. The challenge was to write a story about Rubik's cube. Starsky has a Rubik's cube. Can he and Hutch solve it?


Rubik's Cube

Hutch opened the red car door to find Starsky not with his hands on the steering wheel ready to hit the streets and bust the day's bad guy, no, instead he had his hands on some square thing with multiple colors. "Hey, Starsk, what's that?"

Starsky was in his own little world not even realizing Hutch was in the car. Knowing just how focused his partner was, Hutch tapped Starsky on the shoulder which made his partner jump. "What," Starsky said startled.

Hutch giggled, "What is that thing?"

Starsky held out the square object, "It's called a Rubik's cube." He turned it to show each of the six sides. "Each side is a different color and the object is to get each side the same color."

"All at the same time?"

"Well, yeah."

Hutch took the cube, "I bet I can do it."

"Give it a try but it's not as easy as it sounds."

Hutch turned each side of the cube and after several attempts managed to get all the reds on one side. "See, told you I could do it." He held the cube up so Starsky could see it.

Starsky stopped at a red light and glanced at the cube. "Nope. That's just one side, I told ya, you gotta get all six sides."

The light turned green and Hutch fiddled with the cube again. After several attempts he scratched his head and said, "Very funny, Starsk. You had me going a minute there."

"Whatya mean?"

"There's no way to get all six sides at the same time."

"I'm tellin' ya, Hutch, that's the object." Starsky stopped in front of the Pits. He took the cube from Hutch. "I spent half the night trying to get it."

"So you can't do it either?"

"I didn't say that. I haven't given up. I did manage to get the red and blue." Starsky turned the pieces several times trying to get finish the cube.

"Uh, Starsk, none of colors were done when I picked it up."

"Dummy, when you turn one side it messes up the other side," Starsky answered as he continued to move the pieces.

After a couple more minutes, Hutch stretched his hand out to stop him. "Starsk, are we just going to sit here all day or are we going to see what Huggy wanted?"

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute."

"It's been ten minutes already."

"What?" He looked away from the cube and looked up at Hutch. "Oh, okay." He tossed the cube on the front seat and got out. Hutch picked the cube up and tried again to work the puzzle as he walked into the pits. They went in and sat down. Huggy pranced over to their table. "Well, well, if it isn't Holmes and Watson."

"Hey what's up, Hug?" Starsky asked.

Hutch wasn't aware Huggy was there because he was still trying to solve the cube. He managed to get two sides and grinned. "I got two." He looked up to see Starsky and Huggy both staring at him. He gave them a sheepish grin and sat the cube down. "I'll have a lemonade."

"Me too," Starsky said.

Huggy looked at the cube, "What's this?"

"Some toy of Starsky's," Hutch answered.

"It's called a Rubik's cube."

Huggy picked it up and said, "Oh, I've heard of these. The goal is to get all six colors together at the same time, right."

"Right," Starsky said.

Huggy sat down and worked the cube for several minutes turning one piece at a time. After quite a few minutes he had the red and orange sides. "I guess I'd better get your lemonades."

"That'd be a good idea," Hutch said.

"Right," Huggy responded as he sat the cube down and walked away.

Huggy came back with the lemonades and sat next to Starsky. "Have you two gents heard about those break-ins on Miller Street?"

"Yeah, you got a line on them?" Hutch asked.

Huggy nodded, "Yep. Word is it's a kid." Huggy picked up the cube and started playing with it.

"A kid?" Starsky asked.

"He moved here from New York last month. Name's Bennie. Bennie Hubbard and he goes to Bay City Elementary."

"Thanks, Hug. We'll have a chat with him," Starsky said.

Starsky and Hutch watched Huggy work on the cube about ten minutes before Huggy looking embarrassed sat the cube down and walked away.

Starsky and Hutch went to Bennie's home and found out Bennie and his mother had moved to Bay City after the death of his father. His father died trying to stop an elderly woman from being robbed and beaten by a gang. Mrs. Hubbard thought the move would be good for her son. "I don't know what to do with him. He's always been such a good boy until his father…" She couldn't bear to say the word died.

Starsky reached out to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you are doing the best you can."

Hutch spoke in a soft, friendly voice, "If you don't mind, we'd like to talk to him."

"Please, go easy on him. It's been a hard month on him."

"We will." Starsky said. He gave Hutch a glance that told his partner he was thinking about his own father's death. "I lost my dad when I was about Bennie's age. I'd like to try to help."

Mrs. Hubbard nodded and said, "He's in his room, second door on the right."

Hutch started to get up but Starsky put his hand on his thigh and said, "I got this one, Buddy." Hutch nodded.

Starsky knocked on Bennie's door, there was no answer. He knocked again this time he said, "Bennie, my name's Starsky and I'd like to talk to you."

"You're the cops, aren't you?"

Starsky slowly opened the door, "Yes, I'm a cop. Does that scare you?" He looked to see what he thought looked like a smaller version of himself, a small boy with dark curly hair and blue eyes. He was wearing torn jeans and was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling. Starsky thought about the day he found out his father had been killed and the days that followed. He stared at the ceiling a lot too. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked up, "You know, I never saw my dad in the ceiling either."

That got Bennie's attention, "Your dad?"

"Yeah. Ya see, my dad died when I was about your age and I would lie in my bed looking for him." He paused several seconds then added, "I guess I thought since he was in Heaven I could see him on my ceiling."

"That's crazy."

"Hey, what did I know I was a little kid."

Bennie sat up, "Well, he's not there and he's never coming back."

"Took me some time before I figured that out. I'm not going to tell you life is going to be easy, but your mom in there," he pointed toward the living room, "Your mom loves you and she is trying her best to get through this."

Bennie glanced down the hall, "I know."

"Bennie, you lost your dad, but she lost the one person she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She lost the one person she was going to grow old with." His voice cracked, just a little.

"She's got me."

"Yes, she does. And right now she needs you as much as you need her."

"Did your mom need you too?"

Starsky thought for several minutes about that. His mind wandered back in time and he thought about helping Nicky with his homework and how he tried to be the man of the house even though he was just a little boy. Yes, his mom needed him and he knew he often fell short. "Yeah, she did and you know what?"

"What?"

"I did some things that I'm not proud of. I did some things that I never told her about. But I also came to realize that my Mom, me, and my little brother needed each other. We were all we had."

"What did you do that was so bad?"

"You gotta understand I was very angry and I didn't know how to talk about it. I got into fights at school, quit doing my homework and," he leaned over and whispered, "I even stole candy from poor old Mr. Fitzgerald." He put his finger to his lips and said, "Shhh. That's our secret. My partner, Hutch out there doesn't even know that."

"You could get arrested!"

"That was a long time ago so I think the danger's passed now."

"Would you and your partner arrest me if I stole something?"

"Well now, that would depend on what you stole, why you took it in the first place and if you said you were sorry and would never do it again. And you'd have to give it back." Bennie sat on the edge of bed and looked down at his feet. "You and I are kind of alike, ya know." Bennie nodded. "I didn't have many friends back then and you just moved here so I'm guessing you don't have many either."

"I don't have any friends. No one likes me."

"I like you. I could always use another friend."

"You wouldn't like me if you knew what I did."

Starsky put his hand on Bennie's shoulder, "Son, you're the one who broke into the houses on Miller Street, aren't you?"

Bennie nodded, he turned and hugged Starsky, "I'm sorry," he sobbed.

Starsky put his arm around him and let Bennie cry. "It's okay. It's okay, Son. I've been there, I understand," He said in a soft voice.

Bennie cried for a long time. He finally stopped crying and walked to his dresser. He opened the drawer and handed Starsky a couple of watches, a diamond ring and few other small things. "I took these. I don't know why, I don't want them."

Starsky smiled at Bennie and took the stolen items. "Thank you, Bennie. I'll make sure they find their way back to their owners."

"No."

"No?" Starsky questioned.

Bennie took a deep breath. He couldn't explain why but for some reason it seemed as if just talking to his new friend, the weight of the world had been lifted off his young shoulders. "I took them; I need to put them back. I need to make this right. My dad died trying to save someone who was being robbed and I stole this stuff. It's not right. I had no right."

"Does this mean you want to be my friend?"

"If you still want me too."

"Of course I do. My partner, Hutch is great and all but," Starsky whispered, "to be honest he acts too grown up sometimes. I'd like to have a kid as my friend."

Bennie smiled, "You wanna come play with my trains sometime? He pointed to a train set that was still in the box.

"Can I? I love trains."

"Sure."

Bennie took the stolen items from Starsky and put them in a box. "If I go to jail, will you come visit?"

Starsky rubbed Bennie's hair, "You're not going to jail. Hutch and I will see to it."

"I need to take this stuff back now."

"How about you stay here a minute and I'll go explain things to your mom. Then Hutch and I will go with you to return that stuff."

"You'd go with me?"

"I'm your friend; I wouldn't let you do that alone."

"What about your partner, Hutch?"

"He's my friend too, trust me. He'll want to go." Bennie sat on the bed and waited for Starsky to talk to his mother.

Starsky explained everything to Bennie's mother. "I can't thank you enough for this," Mrs. Hubbard stated.

"He's a good kid. He's just heartbroken and doesn't know how to deal with it," Starsky told her.

"We're happy to help," Hutch added.

Bennie got in the back seat as Starsky & Hutch were taking him to return the stolen items to their rightful owners. He set the box on the seat next to him and picked up the Rubik's cube and started turning the pieces.

"That's pretty tricky," Hutch told him.

"I've solved it lots of times," Bennie said and he handed Hutch the cube, fully completed.

Hutch glanced at Starsky, "I'm not sure I like this kid."

Bennie was worried until Hutch followed by Starsky started laughing.

The End


End file.
